Sanrio Puroland Co. has expanded its sales promotions efforts through content aimed at increasing inbound visitors from overseas. They have created VR applications using rich media as a more engaging way to increase worldwide exposure for the Hello Kitty centric theme park. The VR app was first released at SANRIO EXPO held on February 6, 2017, and the company plans to start full-scale operations on more VR experiences this spring.

Created for the Gear VR, viewers can experience Sanrio characters including Hello Kitty guiding them through Puroland, or watch the popular Sanrio characters parade. Gaze-based navigation allows users to control their movement through the various park locations by simply moving their head. The ease of navigation is perfect for the multilingual audience Sanrio is trying to reach.

Sanrio commented: “Due to the high productivity of InstaVR, production of mockups usually taking 2-3 weeks were completed in one week. By being able to mock up at an early stage, we were able to take more time to fill out the details, and we were able to improve the quality. As for the final cost and delivery time, production was completed at half of our initial cost estimate, and actual delivery date was realized in 3 weeks, from beginning filming to app delivery.”

Sanrio plans to use InstaVR’s point-of-gaze heat map functionality, which will allow them to see areas where app users are looking within the theme park. The company can then analyze VR visitor behavior data and leverage this to guide VR content development, such as adding interactivity to the app with hot spots and navigation.